North Carolina Blizzard

Almost four years native to North Carolina, the snow culture here still surprises me. We got a total of 4 inches coupled with freezing temps, and the world of Winston-Salem stopped.

 

 

 

The dogs LOVE the snow! Hannah is so light that she rarely sinks into the snow.

 

This is a NC "plowed" road. This is why there were over 300 accidents within the city over a three day span. The roads are bad and the drivers are too.

Despite the cold temps and slush, the girls and I continued our running regimen. Thanks to Grandpa Henson and Grandpa Ambis, we now have the right gear (couplers and grip holds) for running together!

Lights & Cocktails

I love festive holiday events and moments. Last week, I had the opportunity to go and experience the festival of lights with my coworkers and the girls got together for a Christmas cocktail.

This might be the best light show memory that I will ever have because of who I was with and the fact that we had sour patch kids in the car!

 

Merry Christmas.

90 Minutes in Heaven

At somepoint closer to the new year, I will put a reading list up here from 2009, but I just had to post about this particular book I just finished. 90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper.

I was skeptical at first due to its popularity at the bookstore (thinking it was corny), but the text was excellent. The book is about a man who is in a terrible car accident, pronounced dead on scene, arrives in Heaven, and then miraculously comes back to life to tell the story. Now, if you're not curious about Heaven or this man's journey to recover from the accident, then it's not the story for you. But...If you would enjoy a personal testimony about Heaven, as well as an incredible story of miracles, give it a try. The story is two fold: the wonder of our eternal home and the immense reality of this fallen world --- healing from a number of prospectives.

Thank you Don Piper. It changed me.

December & Doggies

For the last two weeks, we have been mixing Chris' final exams with Christmas fun. The dogs love Christmas and I couldn't resist a few photo opps.

Hannah finally gave us a great picture! She continues to be a wonderful little girl. She is Jack's play buddy and Tex's snuggle partner at all times.

This is team brown.

Tex apparently felt the need to be pictured with the Christmas tree this year. I wish we could have a tree up all year. I love the lights!

Chris and I made a big investment in bones. This is 6 months worth of dog bones! We cut them in half to make them last twice as long! When you start adding up the expense, you realize how costly they can be when you have 4 doggies. Bones are without question a necessity in our house.

I know, our closet looks like one of the shelves at Petsmart!

Here they are, enjoying their new bones. Ruthie hoards hers until everyone else is finished. Hannah is a machine -- she shreds it. Tex is all about speed --- ten minutes tops. And sweet Jackson doesn't really like bones but because everyone else does, he pretends to want his.

I'm sure all the moms out there have something that they use up and go through constantly with their kids, milk, cheerios or formula. Here in the Henson house, it's bones.

I'll do my best to take pictures as the Christmas season continues!

Of course our tree is real...

I grew up hiking through the snow at a tree farm in search of the family Christmas tree.  It was always real and dad always had to drag it back out of the woods as the three of us girls either attempted to help or simply walked along giddy over the new tree.  Now, getting my own tree is somewhat similar with a bit of a NC twist.

The Hensons drive all the way to Sparta, NC to find their Christmas trees. It's quite the adventure.  Most people in our area of NC, simply drive to their local K Mart parking lot or the nearest Christmas tree tent and buy a pre-cut tree.  It pains me to think of getting my tree from between the parking lot yellow lines! Goodness! So we go in search of a beautiful tree. There's no snow, but honestly, this is just as fun and much much warmer!

Found it!  It took me forever this year. Poor Chris found some beautiful trees, but they just didn't feel right. Sarah got her first tree and David and Joyce got just what they wanted as well!

Let the holiday decorating begin! I love Christmas more than any other time of the year.  It always brings out the best in those who truly understand love, blessings and the Lord.

Thanksgiving in Winston

This year both of our families celebrated Thanksgiving in Winston with us.  It was great! Joyce did a fantastic meal for everyone including dear family friends the Van Zandts.  Beyond football games, too much dessert and lots of doggies to play with the weekend was full of family fun.

Lucas flew in from New Mexico to spend the holiday with Christy. My parents brought both dogs with them on the ten hour trip! We avoided black Friday. Highlights included good movies, stoagies on the porch and great weather for having company.  Chris and I are keenly aware of the many blessings that we are experiencing in our life together.  One of the biggest is the family that surrounds us both near and far!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving with the girls

Last Thursday we gathered for the 3rd Annual Girls' Night Thanksgiving Dinner.  I tackled the turkey again this year. It was our biggest yet! 27 amazing ladies --- wow!  I'll upload the picture soon.  Laura Jones made an appearance all the way from Delaware.  It made the evening extra special! Lots of new faces enjoyed the tradition this year.  I hope that each one of them was encouraged by the friendly faces of those around them.  I remember three years ago needing and wanting committed girl friends to walk through life with, and I'm so thankful to say that I have more of those relationships now than I could have ever imagined! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Mart

We celebrated Martha's birthday last weekend with a bunch of her friends.  They did oysters and BBQ out at Martha's family's river house. Above you can see Sam and Chris working on the oysters! 

It's My Birthday!

This weekend was full of fun for my 26th birthday. It was the best birthday I have ever had --- thanks family, friends and Christopher! Friday night we celebrated at Mi Pueblo with our friends.  I was prepared for the sombrero and singing, but being hit on the head with every verse of the song was a surprise!

As a special bonus, we got to bring Hannah home from Uncle Brad and Aunt Cooper's house. Before bringing her home, we thought a backyard bath would be a good idea. Dad and CD did a great job!

   












We then headed to the movies to see The Christmas Carol in 3D.  It was crazy how 3-dimensional everything on the screen was through the glasses.  What could be better for my birthday than a Christmas movie?

Somewhere in there I also got up early and took the GRE exam.  Not fun, but not bad either. No more GRE review for this girl! We ordered stuffed crust pizza for dinner Saturday night --- my favorite!

My friends helped me celebrate all weekend long!  Thank you everyone for your messages, cards and encouragement.  Apparently, everyone is excited to see me get older --- sweet!

Sunday we capped off the weekend with the traditional Henson family birthday dinner and mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, mmm mmm! 26 feels great and my only regret is that the weekend is near over.  My father-in-law has declared it my birthday month, so we'll see how long I can keep this party going!

This book has exactly ten days left to its life. I have been immersed in page after page of GRE practice problems for over a month now. I can say with complete sarcasm that I love, love, love this text. Give me more please!

I happen to be taking the test on my birthday. I know, not the best birthday plans, but that is how the calendar worked out. As one of my birthday presents I will be sacrificing the Kaplan book to the GRE gods. Regardless of scores. This is the finale folks.

Normal posts with pictures of doggies and family fun with resume soon.

It's October 25th.... oops!

I'm not sure where the last three weeks have gone...sorry blog family. With no real way to make up the posting memories, I'll sum it up and make a greater effort this next week to post our life online.

Since we last chatted....
- Dogs have dug a two-foot trench around the huge tree in the back yard. There's a mole deep down in there somewhere. They are relentless!

- We tilled the back yard in anticipation of grass this spring. Progress! Progress!

- I have spent hours practicing GRE questions --- not loving it!

- We walked in the JDRF Diabetes Walk (in the pouring rain!). It was hilarious. Ruth and Hannah didn't seem to mind the weather at all.

- We went to the Wake Forest homecoming game. Awesome night! We got to go up to the sports commentary tower and watch the guys cover the plays!

- Back in the yard, the leaves are falling and we are prepping for colder temperatures.

We are thrilled to be closer and closer to the holiday season. I promise, better coverage and more interesting visuals in the days to come. We're alive and my blogging is still strong.

Have a great week all.

Dogs & Sticks: Story of my life.

Here we have Jack and Tex singing together. Better known as howling, these two are quite the vocal pair. Jack sings baritone while Tex takes second soprano. Loud; yes. Hilarious; yes.

Hopefully, at some point we will catch them on video for all of YouTube to see!

I referenced "sticks" in my title due to my hours of yard work this weekend. The weather was ideal and our yard continues to haunt my existence. I guess I am enough of a perfectionist that there is a deeply rooted hope for better aesthetics outside my window. We are renting, thus the insanity of this project. It's not even my yard and yet, I pine for greatness. Above, you see everything that I hauled out of the back yard. The picture does not do it justice.

This yard has more debris than a demo site. Here are all the bricks and stones that we continue to find amidst the bushes and trees. Yes, the gnome is ours. Not sure why he's in the brick pile?

Miss Hannah Girl on the porch.

Mr. Jackie on the porch. He can't help but pose, can he?

Great weekend. I love working outside. It is truly beginning to feel like fall here and that means two things: pumpkin pies and lots of leaves! I love October!

On the couch at 9:08pm, should be doing the dishes, but it really doesn't matter tonight.

Somehow, we have completed five weeks of school. It's flying by which is wonderful for Christopher as he maintains grad courses, a CPA review class and internship interviews. I'll be honest, it looks incredibly constant. His energizer bunny abilities amaze me.

School continues to be constant for me as well. My responsibilities on campus have expanded this year and that lends to a 90mph day on campus. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I pray for snow days. Above all, I have realized that my favorite part of the day is being with my students. They are like no other! It's a wonderful confirmation for my future in education. It's wild to think this is my fourth year teaching! I cannot wait until I can say it's been ten years!

Do you ever have one of those weekends that was wonderful but you really don't have anything to highlight over the lunch table on Monday? That was our weekend. Wonderful, but unjustified. We rested. We worked. We churched. We worked some more. We bathed the doggies. End scene.

I loved it.

Welcome to Week #6: 3 interview days for CD, classes and multi-tasking for Kate, neighborhood walks for the dogs and an exuberant attitude of determination to stay healthy!

What a Weekend

Somewhere in the midst of babysitting Friday night, CPA Review class Saturday and a Back-to-School Cookout at Verge, we managed to fit in a few things. I love when we have such great weather! It always makes me more upbeat and more productive. Here's what we got on film.

Volleyball team playing rival Greensboro Day School. While I'm not on the bench with the girls this season we still love to go and watch them play!

Next we headed to the footbal game. The guys won by a large margin! Go Furies!

This is what happens during halftime when we're goofing around!

Saturday, I headed to the park with Stephanie while she was watching Anna & Claire. With two little girls and Hannah the dog, there was no opportunity to take a picture of us! But, the girls looked so cute on the swings.


After CPA class and the cookout, Christopher played for St. Baldrick's Day

This event raised money for cancer research. We were outside on the back porch and the weather was perfect! The event raised over $30,000 for cancer! How cool!

Great AND busy weekend as you can tell. This morning we added church and family lunch to the agenda. All that is left is a youth concert in Matthews and family dinner tonight. Is it fair to say I'm a little tired?

Happy Labor Day

Great weekend, great weather and we didn't do anything out of the ordinary! Sometimes the best holiday weekend is spent not planning big plans or traveling many miles, but simply experiencing the joy of being home and appreciating it.

I did attempt to take a picture of the dogs for my teacher page at school. It may actually be impossible to get a picture of all of them together? They get so excited about the camera that there is not a single moment for me to push the shutter button when they are all looking! This may kill the family photo idea for awhile. Anyway, here's what we have for laughs!